Forum Discussion

Hamidrezaei's avatar
Hamidrezaei
Frequent Visitor
6 years ago
Solved

White spaces

Hi Guys, 

 

Is there any way to change colums with space to null? some cells contains only one or multiple spaces inside. 

The function Trim seems to remove only beggining and the end of a cell with spaces, it dosen't remove spaces if a cell only contains space in it.

 

I appreciate your help

Hamid

 

Need Help
  • v-alq-msft's avatar
    v-alq-msft
    6 years ago

    Hi, Hamidrezaei 

     

    Based on your descirption, I created data to reproduce your scenario. The pbix file is attached in the end.

    Test(row 4 and row 6 both have spaces):

     

    You may add steps in Power Query as below.

    let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlRwVHBWitWJVjJScFFwA7OMFVwV3MEsBTBpquCh4AnhAwViAQ==", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}}),
    Custom1 = Table.ReplaceValue(#"Changed Type"," ","",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"Column1"}),
    Custom2 = Table.AddColumn(Custom1,"Custom2",each if Text.Length([Column1])=0 then null else [Column1]),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(Custom2,{"Column1"})
in
    #"Removed Columns"

     

    Result:

     

    Best Regards

    Allan

     

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

     

     

     

5 Replies

  • mahoneypat's avatar
    mahoneypat
    Microsoft Employee
    6 years ago

    In the query editor, choose Replace Values and then in the popup, type nothing (i.e., type no characters) into the first box and null into the second.

     

    If this works for you, please mark it as the solution.  Kudos are appreciated too.  Please let me know if not.

    Regards,

    Pat

  • v-alq-msft's avatar
    v-alq-msft
    Community Support
    6 years ago

    Hi, Hamidrezaei 

     

    Based on your descirption, I created data to reproduce your scenario. The pbix file is attached in the end.

    Test(row 4 and row 6 both have spaces):

     

    You may add steps in Power Query as below.

    let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlRwVHBWitWJVjJScFFwA7OMFVwV3MEsBTBpquCh4AnhAwViAQ==", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}}),
    Custom1 = Table.ReplaceValue(#"Changed Type"," ","",Replacer.ReplaceText,{"Column1"}),
    Custom2 = Table.AddColumn(Custom1,"Custom2",each if Text.Length([Column1])=0 then null else [Column1]),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(Custom2,{"Column1"})
in
    #"Removed Columns"

     

    Result:

     

    Best Regards

    Allan

     

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

     

     

     

    • Hamidrezaei's avatar
      Hamidrezaei
      Frequent Visitor
      6 years ago

      Thankn you this is very helpfull. 

      Is there anyway to touch only cells with spaces only (Row 4 and 6) ?

       

      Thank you 

      Hamid

      • v-alq-msft's avatar
        v-alq-msft
        Community Support
        6 years ago

        Hi, Hamidrezaei 

         

        You may try the following codes in 'Advanced Editor'. The pbix file is attached in the end.

         

        let
    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText("i45WMlRwVHBWitWJVjJScFFwA7OMFVwV3MEsBTBpquCh4AnhAwViAQ==", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"Column1", type text}}),
    Custom1 = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type","New Column",each if Text.Length(Text.Replace([Column1]," ",""))=0 then null else [Column1]),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(Custom1,{"Column1"})
in
    #"Removed Columns"

         

        Result:

         

        Best Regards

        Allan

         

        If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.